So you got it off the car roof OK. But it begs the question how you are going to get it back on ready for a trip to Scotland? And off again at the caravan site? On your own?(All meant in a nice way. Not being contentious at all).Good luck!

I love it, its opened up a whole new world for me. Never knew such contraptions existed. I’m now a “boat car roof top loader junky” or BCRTLJ to give it its acronym. I will now be able to take two boats with me on my trips. ……….. Now which two will they be? HmmmmmmTotally Brill

There a number of versions of dinghy loaders on YouTube. Some complicated and some very simple. Most appear to be side loaders. One is just a couple of lengths of 4 x 2 with wood blocks and rope loops at top to hold to the rood rack while the action takes place. I am sure that you will find one to suit and save having to wait for help. Good luck.

Thanks for the unloading video – an absolute classic, I couldn’t help but laugh having been in very similar situation myself. Being someone with many clinker dinghies already I’m very curious to hear why you were thinking of building another yourself. What are the elusive qualities that you are looking for that the others don’t have ? Is it to make something lighter, or a sliding seat rower maybe. As always, still love the films –please keep on turning left. Regards.

I am back down to two now – the small green one – 9 foot – as a tender for Kate L and the bigger expedition dinghy at 11 foot 6 inches. I was going to build a clinker dinghy last year but decided it was cheaper to buy a plastic one. A wooden clinker boat has much sharper lands and works better than a plastic one. But I still admire the way even the plastic ones deal with water.

Be careful that you don’t leave your ‘plastic’ dinghy unnatended on the beach too long, it might just get tidied up, put into a hessian bin bag and ‘recycled’ into…errrrr……something more useful that I can think of right now.

So, when are you planning to make the trip? I am not familiar with the likely weather patterns up there, but Late May/June/July would give the longest days. As to accommodation what about a motor home of some sort, with trailer for the dinghy, then you can dispense with the three blokes. Obviously the motor home would cost more but would also have an equally better resale value, and with luck could square away. Ted

I can buy a caravan for £750 – a camper van at that price would be a money pit

plus more room in a caravan and I can still use the car to get the boat from the campsite to a place where I can launch the boat. The weather I can deal with – it is the midges that will get me while I am ashore

however, I am planning on a camp site facing the sea so there should be a good breeze. As long as the wind is going to 2mph then I should be okay. If it is very still and they are bad I can do one of three things

1/ get in the car and run away until long after dark

2/ get in the dingy and put to sea

3/hide in the caravan which should be midge proof.

I know a yacht would be better because while at anchor you can usually find a midge free spot

Dylan, love the Keystone Kops routine! On a different subject, I have been watching KTL Season 6 but for some reason I can’t view part 12 Across the border – any idea why – just doesn’t seem to be a picture with a vid starting arrow on it.

Dylan, you have enough dinghies to try different configurations: lash them together in catamaran and trimaran form (is there such a thing as quadmaran…?) to see if you can get a more stable video-taking platform. Or just raft the whole lot up together and put a hide/cabin on top for wildlife videography….

Actually I just Googled Quadmaran… there are such things. But there are things the eye should not see….